These turnovers are stuffed with a sweet pumpkin filling with lovely spice flavors. The ready-made empanadas can be frozen and reheated to enjoy later on. Make sure to make several to store.
Pumpkin Turnover Recipe / Receta de Empanadas de Calabaza
The memories these Pumpkin Empanadas bring to my mind.
It is 5:30 AM on a Saturday morning. It is a three-day weekend, you jump into your car and everyone but the driver seems to be half asleep. We headed to the highway, looking at the other cars and their passengers. You see numerous SUV’s, small and large cars heading in the same direction. You wonder where they’re all going on a peaceful Saturday morning. Are they all going away on a Holiday to the beach, or to a cabin on the mountain? (Yes, (hard to believe?) we also do that in Mexico! ).
No, we all are going shopping. Yes, shopping! This is a ritual that used to happen very often during the years we lived in Monterrey, NL. You got up very early to make it to the border, before the lines of cars crossing the international bridge between Mexico and USA got so long that it would take hours just to make it through the US Customs booths.
During those early morning trips somehow in my sleep-walking mode, I managed to fix a large pot of coffee and pour it into a thermos that will be our companion in our 2-hour trip and something that will be in perfect harmony with the “Empanadas de Calabaza” sold by a young woman at the first toll booth.
You can call it a light breakfast until we made it to the American side and to the nearest Denny’s or “IHOP”. The memories of those empanadas de calabaza came to my mind last weekend. Seeing pumpkins everywhere, it made me feel a craving to bake some. Deciding to make them with a yeasty dough was a personal option since that is the way I remember the dough flavor to taste as they do it in other northern states, but you can use your own pastry or pie recipe.
You can watch this youtube video where two nice ladies from the State of Sonora are baking the empanadas in the last stage where they place the empanadas under the broiler to give them that dark color.
How to make Empanadas de Calabaza
- Place the pumpkin in a saucepan with the piloncillo, ¼ cup of water and the cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil and cook for about 15-20 minutes until the pumpkin is tender. Remove the cinnamon stick. (Please check the ingredients list below)
- At this time the piloncillo should have been dissolved, add the ground cinnamon, ground anise, and clove. Keep cooking uncovered for about 20 or more minutes, stirring frequently until the mixture takes the texture of a jam. This can be done ahead of time and has to be room temperature before forming the empanadas. Note: In case the pumpkin shell is too hard to remove since the ones sold in Mexico are really hard to remove. Cook the pumpkin first with a ¼ cup of water until it is tender enough to scrape from the shell. Then cook the pulp with the rest of the ingredients for the filling without the water.
- To form the dough; Place the yeast in a small bowl add the warm milk and let it proof for about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile in a large bowl place the flour, eggs, melted and cool butter, sugar and salt. Add the yeast mixture and mix to form a soft a dough.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl turning to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic and let it rest for about 1 ½ hour in a warm place.
- After that period of time knead the dough again for 2-3 minutes and divide into 12 small softballs to start forming the empanadas. Cover with plastic.
- Now to form the empanadas: With the help of your rolling pin roll out each of the dough balls on a lightly floured surface into circles of about 7 inches diameter.
- Place about ¼ cup of filling in the center of each; fold the dough to enclose filling and form a half-moon. Seal edges by crimping with a fork.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange empanadas on 2 greased baking sheets; brush with egg wash and dust with some sugar if you desire to do so. Let them rest for about 30-35 minutes until the dough rise.
- Bake until light brown, 15 to 18 minutes; rotate pans between racks halfway through.
Update: I placed some of these empanadas in the freezer for later use. You know those times when you want to have some coffee and a sweet thing to go alone. Well, I put one in the toaster oven while my coffee was brewing and it tastes great. Really crispy with its soft filling. So now you know, they freeze well.
PUMPKIN TURNOVER RECIPE
The memories of those empanadas de calabaza came to my mind last weekend. Seeing pumpkins everywhere, it made me feel a craving to bake some. Deciding to make them with a yeasty dough was a personal option since that is the way I remember the dough flavor to taste as they do it in other northern states.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pound pumpkin seeded without skin and cut in large cubes
- 6 oz. Piloncillo or brown sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cinnamon stick of about one inch This will be removed after the pumpkin cooks
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground anise seeds
- ¼ tsp. ground clove spice
For the dough:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- ⅓ cup warm milk
- 1 tsp dry yeast
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ stick of melted butter
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 egg lightly beaten to brush the empanadas
Instructions
- Place the pumpkin in saucepan with the piloncillo, ¼ cup of water and the cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil and cook for about 15-20 minutes until the pumpkin is tender. Remove the cinnamon stick.
- At this time the piloncillo should had been dissolved, add the ground cinnamon, ground anis and clove. Keep cooking uncovered for about 20 or more minutes, stirring frequently until the mixture takes the texture of a jam. This can be done ahead of time and has to be a room temperature before forming the empanadas.
- To form the dough; Place the yeast in a small bowl add the warm milk and let it proof for about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile in a large bowl place the Flour, eggs, melted and cool butter, sugar and salt. Add the yeast mixture and mix to form a soft a dough. Knead in a floured surface for about 5 minutes adding more flour if needed.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl turning to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic and let it rest for about 1 ½ hour in a warm place.
- After that period of time knead the dough again for 2-3 minutes and divide in 12 small soft balls to start forming the empanadas. Cover with plastic.
- Now to form the empanadas: With the help of your rolling pin roll out each of the dough balls in a slightly floured surface into circles of about 7 inches diameter stretching it if necessary.
- Place about ¼ cup of filling in center of each; fold dough to enclose filling and form a half moon. Seal edges by crimping with fork.
If you want your empanadas to look symmetric once you fold the circle place a cereal bowl upside down and press to cut any excess of dough like it shows in the picture.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange empanadas on 2 greased baking sheets; brush with egg wash and dust with some sugar if you desire to do so. Let them rest for about 30-35 minutes until dough raise.
- Bake until light brown, 15 to 18 minutes; rotate pans between racks halfway through. Baking time will vary depending of your oven.
If you want to obtain a dark golden color in your empanadas do not add sugar to the topping and place them for 2-3 minutes under the broiler of your stove after baking them, watching carefully to avoid burning them.
Update:
- I placed some of these empanadas in the freezer for later use. You know those times when you want to have some coffee and a sweet thing to go alone. Well, I put one in the toaster oven while my coffee was brewing and it tastes great. Really crispy with its soft filling. So now you know, they freeze well.
Notes
• For the pumpkin filling that renders about 3 cups of filling.
• If using canned pumpkin just make sure buy 2 cans since 1 can equals 1 ½ cup. It may reduce a little but that will be enough for this recipe.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Buen Provecho!
Mely,
More recipes:
Tuna Empanadas
Crab Empanadas
Christina
Hi! My fathers side of the family is from Sonora. I remember my great grandmother making these once a year. I can't that I loved them (she wasn't that great of a cook, lol), but now I find myself craving some. I just may try these. But I now live in Puebla, do you think that Calabasas de Castilla work? Can you believe that there is no butternut squash out here? No canned pumpkin either. Sigh. Do you think "camotes" or carrots can be sued as a substitute?
mmartinez
Hello Christina,
Yes, you can use Calabazas de castilla, camotes is also a great option.
Happy baking!
Maria
Good morning ! So on the dough is that 1/4 c. melted butter???
mmartinez
Hello, Maria,
That will be 1/4 cup of melted butter. Happy baking!
Mari
Thank you for ALL YOUR HELP !
mmartinez
YOu are very welcome!
Jennifer Sandoval
Thank you so much for this recipe! Where I live now they only sell pineapple empanadas. I made these for thanksgiving and I made some with sweet potatoes instead of pumpkin and they were great. Thank you again!
Esther
My mom always made empanadas with cooked apples. No one in our family liked pumpkin except for my dad (at Thanksgiving there was 1 pumpkin pie & 2 apple).
Thanks for the recipe; I made empanadas de manzana over the weekend, using your dough recipe. They were delicious, & my brother thanks you!
mmartinez
Hello Esther,
Thank a lot for trying the recipe, and for taking the time to stop by again, and let us know that you used the dough to make apple empanadas.
Happy cooking & baking!
Jayne Douglas
Thanks Mely! Your recipe for empanada dough is just what I've been looking for! Bready, not pie crust. There is one bakery shop here owned by a lady who has one across the river but I think she hired a new baker from HEB and the empanadas are not as good as they use to be. LOL! I'm working to duplicate my Mama's and Gramma's recipes for my kids and you are a BIG help. Thank you, dear Mely!
Ronnie
Omg. If they turn out to be like the kind cranked out at HEB, I’ve gotta hug someone’s neck! I’ve been looking for a bread-like pastry to fill in empanadas foreverrrrrrr. Couldn’t find one. After experimenting with five different recipes during this CVD19 confinement, I have finally given up! However, Mely’s version has given me new encouragement to push through! I’ll update later!
Thx Mely!!!!
Maria Perea
They seem to be good I'll try making them some time this week 😁😁 thanks 👍👍 Meley for your recipe
Rosalba
How would I go about if I used sweet potatoes instead?
Mely Martínez
Hello Rosalba,
You would need to cook them the same way as the pumpkin, but maybe they take less time to cook.
Jennifer Kerr
Outrageously delicious! These disappeared very quickly. Used a classic pâté brisée. Served with her delicious hot chocolate w toasted almond and pecans (I blanched the almonds too avoid skins). People asked for recipe! All in all pure magic. Thank you for your beautiful recipes.
Mely Martínez
Hello Jennifer,
Thank you for trying the empanadas recipe and also the Hot chocolate drink. It is a nice combination. Thank you for coming back to leave a comment.
Gilda Guzman
This is my favorite! Every fall season and as soon as we start to see pumpkins all over the place, my kids start asking for empanadas! So thank you!